Barnaby Parade Saturday 16th June 2018

Well we’re nearly there folks, 19 sleeps till the parade, if you haven’t already told us you’re coming, don’t despair! there’s still time to sign up 🙂

The Parade team would love to help you join in the fun and are asking:

“Have you signed up yet for this year’s Barnaby Carnival Parade?

Leaving Macclesfield Town Centre Saturday 16th June at 12 noon.

Suitable for all ages – theme is Roots/ Routes and everyone will be in costume!

Any individuals and groups wanting to take part please get in touch with Louise on barnabyparade@me.com for more details. Here at Artspace we have volunteers who can help with costume ideas, materials and accessories, so yes….it’s not too late to sign up!!

For this post, in the header we’ve gone back to our 2010 roots, we’ve come a long way since then! Building bigger and better floats each year to accompany the most important part of the Parade, you lovely Macclesfield people! This year sees our tallest float yet! come along and see what it is.

Here are some ideas for you:

BARNABY FESTIVAL PARADE BRIEF 2018

Saturday 16th June 2018 @ 12 noon

Macclesfield Town Centre

Theme: ROOTS/ROUTES

Through the roots of the town springing from the forest to the route of the Silk Road

Workshops every Tuesday from 12 noon – 9pm and daily (just check with John that we are there)from 4th June till the Parade at Macclesfield Community Artspace, 2nd Floor, The Arsenal, Sutton Mill, Heapy Street, Macclesfield , Cheshire SK11 7JB (Lift available; Parking at rear)

It’s Parade time again and this year’s theme is Roots or Routes. We had some amazing entries in 2016 and some 800 people taking part when our theme was Space and we want this Parade to be even bigger and better.

A good Parade tells a story through costume and activity – we want to encourage groups to include sound and movement in their Parade entries and to show everyone how to have a great time! We’ll happily help you find ways to do this so get in touch if you would like to talk anything through.

Based on the roots of Macclesfield Town springing from the forest and reflecting some of the history in the times of John De Macclesfield. This section will feature giant puppets, trees and plant growth with their roots symbolizing the town’s origins. We are looking for trees, forest growth, animal floats, puppets and costumes, foresters, woodcutters, wood nymphs Entertain us with folk music, singing and dancing!

Dissent

Celebrating Macclesfield’s record of independent thinking and dissent, this section will feature historic and modern day protest. Here’s some idea’s but do feel free to get creative with your own ideas.

Celebrate the riot of 1812. You can find out more about the riot itself as www.macclesfieldpotatoriot.bigcartel.com. Show us some rich and poor folk in Regency costume, market barrows laden with local produce. There will be local militia and cavalry, the local magistrate along with shopkeepers, mill owners and riot leaders. We will be running some costume making sessions and street theatre workshops to bring the riot alive as the Parade passes through the town.

Celebrating 100 years since (some) women got the vote (not all, that wasn’t until 1928), we might see some Suffragettes, like Emilie Pankhurst or her daughters Sylvia and Christabel, dressed in their early 20th centry long skirts and full blouses, with their Votes for Women banners flying high. From 1908 the Women’s Suffrage movement adopted the colours violet, white and green – violet symbolised dignity, white purity and green, hope. You might want to use these colours too.

The Silk Road

This section celebrates both route and roots. The Silk Road began at its eastern end in Xi’an in China and finished at its western end in Macclesfield. Show us what we might have seen

along the Silk Road through thousands of years of history! We would like to see ancient China, camel trains, silk, of course, spices, goods, Arts, religion and ideas represented.

Macclesfield’s Historical Characters

For this section we will be creating giant puppets to represent characters from Macclesfield’s past. Reminiscent of out Parade in 2011 you might see St Barnabas, Charles Roe, Joan the Anchoress, James Chadwick, Charles Tunnicliffe, Ian Curtis, Lizzie the Barmaid and Maggoty Johnson. You can google these characters and find out more! We’d like to see you dressed as supporters and followers of these giant effigies. Feel free to come up with your own character from Macclesfield’s history or join with one of ours from Artspace.

Open Section

Here is your chance to show us your own creative ideas! This section is for all the abstract and individual ideas that you can come up with. You might even find your creations fitting between other sections of the Parade .

Route of Parade: Assemble in the Car Park behind the Town Hall, turn left into Unicorn Gateway, left into Market Place, straight on down Mill St, right into Roe St, across Churchill Way, right into Bridge St, across Great King St, right into Chestergate, across Churchill Way, left into Market Place, then onto Unicorn Gateway returning to Town Hall Car Park. Tbc